New Mexico Cesar Chavez, Dennis Chavez holiday clears House

February 27, 2019

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A proposed state holiday in honor of the late U.S. Sen. Dennis Chavez of New Mexico and the late farmworker union leader Cesar Chavez of California has passed the New Mexico House.

A bill designating the first Friday of every April as “Dennis Chavez and Cesar Chavez Day” cleared the House of Representatives on Monday and now heads to the state Senate.

The New Mexico-born Dennis Chavez served in the U.S. Senate from 1935 to 1962 and earned a reputation as a defender of Mexican-Americans civil rights.

The Yuma, Arizona-born Cesar Chavez co-founded the United Farm Workers of America with Dolores Huerta and the pair organized boycotts and strikes to push for better working conditions for farmworkers.